NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday accused the Centre of “double standards” on the issue of air pollution in the city. It claimed that in its affidavit to the Supreme Court, the Union government had acknowledged that pollution had reduced over the last four years and stubble burning was to blame for the prevailing situation in the Capital.
Taking the attack to the Centre on a day leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demonstrated outside the residence of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia claiming his government failed to tackle pollution in the city, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said the former had acknowledged that the spike in stubble burning incidents in Punjab and Haryana drove pollution in the city to record levels post Diwali.
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“BJP should apologise for lying to Delhi people. It’s affidavit in the Supreme Court is a clear vindication of our position that stubble burning (in neighbouring states) is to blame for the pollution spike,” Singh said.
The blame game has peaked as the smoke-filled air has thrust the city into an unprecedented crisis. While the BJP has been busy laying the pollution blame at AAP’s door, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has gone on record claiming that the city’s air has been comparatively cleaner over the last three years as pollution has down 25 per cent.
The CM on Thursday held a meeting with agricultural experts and entrepreneurs to suggest a cost-effective and environment-friendly alternative to crop residue burning.